A Tulane Professor You Must Take

Have you gotten bored from taking mundane core business school classes? Are you looking to change up your academic schedule and add some spice into your curriculum? Well, look no further than Professor Reginald Parquet, a renowned Tulane School of Social Work professor.

 

Professor Parquet teaches one of my favorite classes at Tulane called Guns & Gangs.  Every time I have his class, I know I will come out learning something about real life scenarios.  His classes do not seem like “class” because you are learning about real-life scenarios that capture every students attention.  For instance, we learned about weapons, drug markets, gang membership, and gang problems.  All of the material in this class is unlike any class offered at Tulane, and Professor Parquet makes a serious effort to make us aware of these inner city issues.  Several students of Professor Parquet call his classes “hidden Tulane gems.”

 

Professor Parquet even went to a great length and surprised our whole class by bringing in former gang members one day.  We were all surprised because at the beginning of the year Reginald warned us that he rarely can get the gang members to come speak in class because they tend to stay out of the public eye. The former gang members first told their story to the whole class and told us their lessons learned from their unique experiences.  Hearing their life-path was actually really motivational, inspiring, and interesting.

All of these unique experiences with Professor Parquet bring us back to the question of “Where else can you get this experience”.  The answer is probably very little other places, which means every Tulane student should take full advantage of this opportunity to take Reginald’s classes.  He is hilarious, and outside of Tulane he is an expert in his field.  On the popular website, www.ratemyprofessors.com, one student commented on Reginald’s page that “they should replace the ugly modern art in the academic quad with a statue of Parquet.”  Clearly, his students love him he even rewards his students each semester with a pizza party.  So, when registration comes this spring in April, keep Reginald Parquet in mind.

Do you have any memorable teachers similar to Reginald Parquet?  Even though they could not possibly be better than him, let us know about your picks in the comment section below. 

Mikey Flynn

Southborough, MA

mflynn7@tulane.edu

A Greek Letter

How many siblings do you have? I have one brother, and about 250 sisters.

Coming to Tulane, I knew I wanted to participate in Greek Life. I had spent my whole life going on family vacations with my mom’s college sorority sisters, and wanted to be able to drag my future family on the same types of outings.

Luckily, Tulane has a spring rush system, which means everyone gets a chance to settle into freshman year as one collective group. I had my dorm friends, my class friends, my laundry room friends, and was so excited to add sorority friends to the mix.

They say rush is one of the most stressful parts of college, and I can’t say I disagree, but the outcome is well worth it. Come bid day, I found myself screaming and jumping up and down with a bunch of freshman that were about to become my sisters.

The best part of the spring rush system is that you already have friends, and some will most likely end up in a different sorority than you. Suddenly, the opportunities to meet new people and expand your friend group will multiply. Walking down Broadway, it’s impossible not to run into someone you know, never mind the letters on their t-shirt.

While I expected being in a sorority would be fun, I never really thought about exactly what it would mean. It gives me a support system at Tulane, across the country from my family, friends, and home. There is always someone that can help you with a homework problem or who just wants to hang out. I have a family within my sorority (my “big sister” and “little sister”), and that makes Tulane feel even more like home.

Mixers with rhyming themes, t-shirts with sparkly letters, and painless community service hours are what I thought being in a sorority would be about. And while those are definitely enjoyable perks, have an automatic group of 250 people you can consider sisters is so much greater than I could have predicted. And, if nothing else, a lot more people wave to you on the way to class. What would you do if you had 250 sisters?



Alex Feigenbaum
Wellesley, Massachusetts
afeigenb@tulane.edu